The present invention relates to fire fighting apparatus in general and to off-road all-terrain fire fighting apparatus in particular.
Although fires are principally a problem for urban areas, there are areas associated with transportation systems and natural resources where fires can result in substantial monetary damages or loss of life. Aircraft fires in particular can result in the loss of life and very valuable aircraft. It is also well known that aircraft are exposed to the greatest hazards while taking off and landing, and are inherently lightweight structures containing relatively large amounts of flammable liquids. While accidents involving aircraft sometimes occur on the runway or taxi strips, often enough a plane lands short of the runway, or runs off the end of the runway. In either case the planes are often beyond access by over the road vehicles. Off-road fire engines are well-known, both for fighting aircraft fires and for fighting brushfires and forest fires.
The off-road fire engine has some unique requirements and difficulties. Principal among these is the difficulty of all terrain navigation, which tends to limit the size of the vehicle and the amount of water that can be carried in the fire engine. One technology for dealing with a limited water supply is the use of a foaming agent, another approach is to use high-pressure water at the neighborhood of 1500 psi to create a water fog. Joystick controlled water nozzles are also known to provide better control over the nozzle and to facilitate remote operation of the nozzle. However, joystick controllers currently used to control high pressure water nozzles are relatively simple devices using limit switches to drive the nozzle in two directions at a constant rate and without advanced programming capabilities. Further, while water nozzles can be controlled remotely, the fire engine itself must be manually operated. What is needed is a fire fighting apparatus suitable for fighting off road fires which incorporates the latest developments in firefighting techniques with advanced control systems which allow flexibility in configuration and even remote operation.